Mail carrier or container



L. H. BLOCKER.

MAIL CARRIER 0R CONTAINER.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. H, 1919.

1,388,066. Patented Apr. 27, 1920. V

UNITED STATES rn rnnr onnron LECK I-I. BLOCKER, 013 NASH, TEXAS.

MAIL CARRIER on CONTAINER.

Application filed October 11,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LECK H. BLOGKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Nash, in the county of Bowie and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail Carriers or Containers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to an improved mail carrier for holding mail matter, such as papers and letters in compact form, particularly when the mail man is making cleliveries.

As a most important and general object of the present invention, it is the aim to provide an improved carrier wherein ratchet means is employed in connection with a clamp, for holding mail matter securely clamped in the lower part of the carrier, in combination with spring means to hold the ratchet means in cooperation with teeth of the frame of the carrier, to hold the clamp securely in contact with the mail matter.

Another object of the invention resides in means carried by ratchet members to be manually manipulated to throw the ratchet members out of engagement with the ratchet teeth on the sides of the carrier, so as to release the clamp, enabling any piece or pieces of the mail matter to be easily withdrawn, and when withdrawn, the clamp may be moved downwardly to clamp the remaining mail matter in position. I

While the design and construction at present illustrated and set forth is deemed preferable, it is obvious that as a result of a reduction of the invention to a more practical form for commercial purposes, the invention may be susceptible to changes, and the right to these changes is claimed, provided they are comprehended within the scope of what is claimed.

The invention comprises further features and combination of parts, as will be hereinafter set forth, shown in the drawings and claimed.

In thedrawings; V p Figure 1 isa'perspective View of the mail carrier constructed in accordance with the invention, and showing the mail matter clamped securely in the lower part of the carrier.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Specification of Letters Patent.

.roller.

Patentan r. 27, 1920.

1919. Serial N0. 329,956.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view of the clamp removed from the carrier.

Referring more especially to the drawings, 1 designates the carrier frame, which comprises a base 2, the side pieces 3 (which are in parallelism and spaced) and the top connecting bars 4, which constitute suitable handles, whereby the carrier may be carried from one place to another and very conveniently handled. The mail matter to be supported by the carrier rests upon the base 2 between the side pieces 3, and to hold the mail matter securely clamped in position on the base 2 a sliding clamp, designated by the numeral'5 as a whole, is mounted slidably upon the side pieces. This clamp is in the form of a loose jointed frame, for instance, the clamp consists of the end pieces 6, which may be constructed in any suitable manner, preferably from sheet metal, folded upon themselves as shown, though not necessarily, and the connecting rods 7, which have their ends mounted in the end pieces 6 of the clamp. The extremities of the rods are preferably swaged or mashed as indicated at 7, though not necessarily, so as to hold the rods in position. The openings through which the end portions of the rod extend are large enough to permit of a slight looseness of'play, so that the frame of the clamp may slightly twist or flex as it moves down wardly. Mounted upon the rods rotatably are rollers 8. These rollers 8 are formed in three sections as shown, the end sections being adapted to ride over and engage the ratchet teeth 9 of the opposite edges of the side pieces 3 of the frame of the carrier. Primarily, the central section of the roller is designed to permit of the extraction of the mail matter, without necessitating raising the mail matter compressor clamp. Each pieceof mail matter when removed is drawn from under the central section of the The central section rotates freely, thereby allowing the easy extraction of the the roller also acts to space the end sections, in fact, to hold the end sections adjacent to andin contact with the ratchet teeth of the side piece 3 of the frame of the carrier. Clamps 10 are mounted upon the connecting rods, which connect the end pieces 6, there being ears 11 formed upon the ends of the clamps 10, whereby the clamps may pivotally move. The clamps 10 are disposed at mail to be delivered. The central section of r acute angles to the ratchet toothed edges of the side pieces 3 of the frame of the carrier. A coil tension spring 12 is arranged to connect the clamps 10, as indicated at 18. By virtue of the spring the edges 1% of the clamps are held adjacent to and in engagement with the ratchet teeth of the opposite ed es of the side pieces 3 of the carrier.

becured at 15 to the clamps are arms 16, which in the present instance, though not necessarily, are constructed from sheet metal and are twisted and bent, so that they extend toward each other and overlap. The arms 16 have their terminals terminating in laterally extending lugs or cars 17, adapted to be engaged by the lingers of an operator for moving said cars 17 in opposite directions toward each other and the arms away from each other, thereby disengaging the edges of the clamps 10 from engagement with the ratchet teeth of the edges of the sides of the carrier, allowing the mail matter clamp to be adjusted vertically. If the compressor or clamp is pressed downward too tight on the mail matter, the arms 16 may be moved in directions away from each other, by applying pressure upon the ears or lugs 17. By this operation, the clamps of the compressor are moved from each other and when this occurs the clamps'of the compressor may be released and are capable of moving upwardly a notch or two, preferably a single notch, to permit the removal of a piece of mail matter for delivery. By so manipulating the clamps 10 to permit the clamping frame to be moved upwardly, additional mail matter may be arranged under the clamping frame. When the arms are released, a downward pressure upon the-clamping frame may be imparted thereto, in which case, the mail matter will be forced downwardly and clamped in position on the base or bottom of the carrier.

Obviously the spring will tension the clamps 10 so that their edges will ride over the ratchet eeth, and when the mail matter has been suticiently compressed toward and in contact with the bottom of the carrier, the edges of the clamp 10 will cooperate with the teeth of the opposite edges of the sides of the carrier and hold the clamping frame in position.

A mail carrier when using a device of this kind may readily and quickly deliver mail matter, since the delivery of the mail mat ter merely consists in the raising of the clamp to permit of the extraction of any desired piece of mail matter, so that it may be delivered to its proper destination. As

soon as a piece of mail matter is extracted,

the clamping frame may again be forced downwardly in position. It is obvious that the clamping frame is allowed to flex slightly, in order to accommodate itself to the varying thicknesses of the pieces of the mail matter. In other words, some pieces of the mail matter will be thicker than others, therefore one side of the en tire pile of mail matter will be either higher or lower, therefore it is necessary that the clamping frame be allowed to flex slightly. Furthermore, the ratchet teeth of the opposite edges of the side pieces of the carrier are slightly staggered, so that the clamps of the clamping frame may accommodate themselves to the teeth according to the varying thicknesses of the pieces of mail matter.

It will be noted that the overlying arms of the clamps may be manipulated, when moved in directions from each other, so that the lateral ears or lugs of the arms may contact and hold the adjacent edges of the clamps out of engagement with the ratchet teeth of the opposite edges of the side pieces 3, thereby permitting the clamping frame to freely move in either direction.

The invention having been set forth, what is claimed as new and useful is:

1. In a portable mail carrier as set forth, the combination with a portable mail carrier frame including side pieces provided with ratchet teeth, of a flexible clamping frame mounted upon the carrier frame to move vertically, elongated clamps pivoted upon said flexible clamping frame, tensioning means between said clamps to hold them in engagement with the ratchet teeth when the clamping frame is moved downwardly against the mail matter, members fixed to the clamps and overlying each other and adapted to be moved in planes from each other, to disengage the clamps from the teeth to permit the clamping frame to be moved freely upwardly and downwardly.

2. In a mail carrier as set forth, the combination with a mail carrier-frame including parallel vertical side pieces, the opposite edges of the side pieces having ratchet teeth, of a flexible mail matter clamping frame to move vertically upon the mail carrier frame and having journaled rods, rollers journaled upon said rods to cooperate with the toothed edges of the side pieces of the carrier frame, clamps pivotally mounted upon said rods and having their edges cooperatively engaging said teeth of the side pieces of the carrier frame, tensioning means between said clamps, and means comprising arms overlying each other, adapted to be manually manipulated to disengage the clamps from the teeth of the opposite edges of. the side pieces.

3. In a portable mail carrier, a carrier frame and parallel side pieces provided with tchet teeth upon their opposite edges, a flexible clamping frame adjustable upon the side pieces, single piece clamps having pivotal connections with the corners of said flexible frame, tensioning means to hold said clamps in engagement With said teeth, and elements carried by said clamps to be manually actuated toward each other to release the clamps from engagement with the teeth to permit adjustment of the clamping frames.

4t. In a portable mail carrier, a carrier frame having parallel uprights provided with ratchet teeth upon their opposite edges, a clamping frame comprising side pieces,

opposing clamps loosely connected to said side pieces, tensioning means to hold said clamps in engagement With said teeth, and means on the clamps to be actuated to release the clamps from engagement With the teeth to allow the clamping frame to be moved on the carrier frame.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

LE CK H. BLOOKER, 

